The Ogun State Ministry of Community Development and Cooperatives has emphasised its determination to equip, train and retrain the community leaders on citizenship, leadership and attitudinal change in the State.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Alhaji Kolawole Ogunlana made this known at a 4-day training to over 700 community leaders on Citizenship and Leadership co-organized with the State Community Development Council, held at the Social Development Institute (Shasha), Iperu Remo, Ikenne Local Government Area of the State.

Ogunlana, in a statement signed by the Ministry’s Press Officers, Mrs. Modupe Salabiu and Mrs. Ayobami Malomo, charged the participants to a good and accountable leaders that must be accessible at all time, noting that training would enable them to confront the challenges relating to their leadership skills and compete favourably with their counterparts in other states.

He stressed the need for training and retraining of community associations and executive members to achieve their set of goals, saying that the government of the day believes in people partnership mechanism in achieving its overall development.

While appreciating the present administration-led by Prince Dapo Abiodun, Ogunlana said the roles and collaborations of Community Development Associations (CDAs) at the grassroot towards economic and social development in the state could not be overemphasized.

He recalled that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Dapo Abiodun administration disbursed a grant-in-aid to communities in year 2021 to the tune of N85,500,505, adding that the record reveals that over 400 Community Development Associations (CDAs), 300 Area Community Development Committees (ACDCs), Zonal Community Development Committees (ZCDCs) and Senatorial Community Development Committees (SCDCs) in the state benefitted from the government support.

On behalf of other participants at the training, Prince Deji Dosunmu and Chief (Mrs.) Omolabake Aboyade said the training was a welcome idea towards management and continuous development of local communities, which would also serve as a form of check and balance for community leaders, noting that it would go a long way in maintaining peaceful co-existence and agenda setting in building their future together.

Various leadership courses ranging from self-help strategies, security, health issues, land matters, effective management of community development and financial records were among the training sessions, certificate were awarded to all participants.